On Thursday, during an Independence Day national address, Najib vowed to dismantle two harsh security-related laws--the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance--and ease legal restrictions on civil liberties, including the right to assembly, international press reports said. He has also vowed to abolish the Printing Presses and Publications Act so that newspapers do not have to reapply annually for permission to publish. The Home Ministry previously had sole discretion over whether to renew newspapers' operating licenses, and its often arbitrary decisions could not be legally appealed.

"The repeal of the Printing
Presses and Publishing Act is long overdue. We commend Prime Minister Najib
Razak for vowing to remove such a substantial barrier to Malaysia's press freedom," said Shawn Crispin,
CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "Next,
his government should prioritize the abolishment of other laws that threaten
journalists, including the Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act."

Najib's move is regarded
by some as an attempt to boost support for his UMNO party after it lost ground
at the 2008 election, according to news
reports. The move is also seen as an attempt to remake the party's image in
a more liberal and democratic way, news
reports said. Two months ago, police arrested 1,400 from a crowd of 20,000 protesters
marching for electoral reforms in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, in the biggest political rally
the country had seen in years, news reports said.

Najib's promise of legal
reforms must still be approved by the legislature, which his ruling United
Malays National Organization (UMNO) party dominates.

In recent years, authorities
have resorted to various security-related laws, including the Internal Security
Act and the Sedition Act, to curb through the threat of imprisonment alternative
news and views that have burgeoned on the Internet.